#nostalgia #tvcommercials #videogamecommercials #gamingcommercials #oldvideogamecommercials #90scommercials #90sads #1990scommercials #2000scommercials #2000sads #2001commercials #1991 #1992 #blockbuster #tacobell #nintendo #nintendocommercials #mcdonalds #dailymotion #youtube #facebook #twitter #twitch #motiongraphics #deezer #tv #dlive #instagram #stream #motion #twitchstreamer #fightingmentalillness #twitchclips #twitchretweet #twitchaffiliate #twitchshare #ant #scribaland #tiktok #greece #spotify #gelio #games #vimeo #google #motionmate #youtuber #greekquotes #vhs #fullmovies #fullmovie #icons #g4 #esrb
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:03It began as a political debate at the highest levels in Washington.
00:07I believe that the industry knew it had a problem that needed to be addressed.
00:12I hope you walk away with one thought today.
00:14That if you don't do something about it, we will.
00:18Members of Congress talking about video games being the sort of decline and fall of Western civilization
00:24and destroying our youth and leading them down the path of the no good.
00:27And brought the game industry together.
00:30We began sort of in a crisis, in a reactive way.
00:34They changed minds.
00:35They know that if they go too far, there is a regulating body that's going to say, hold it.
00:41That's a little bit too much for the audience that you're shooting for.
00:45And the way we look at games.
00:47You've got to know what games are right for you.
00:49The industry takes the ESRB very, very seriously.
00:51This is how the Entertainment Software Ratings Board...
00:54Check the rating.
00:55Or the ESRB was created.
00:58When you check the rating, the control is in your hand.
01:20Do you really think we should be leaving them here alone?
01:23Why not?
01:24Well, do you think they can handle it?
01:25Of course they can.
01:26What could possibly go wrong?
01:28What are you doing?
01:29No!
01:30Video games have a history of controversy.
01:33No!
01:33Oh no!
01:40Please!
01:42Please!
01:42You know!
01:43A a a a a a a a a a a a a...
01:50All
01:51Early explicit games like Gotcha.
01:53Released by Atari.
01:55Push the envelope.
01:57You know, we were young and dumb and trying to figure things out.
02:03And everyone was talking about the phallic nature of joysticks.
02:09And so we thought, well, maybe it would be good to have two big pink rubber controllers on the base
02:15of the game
02:16in which you were manipulating breasts.
02:19So we had these sort of breast-shaped controllers.
02:23And grabbed the public's attention.
02:25It was really one of the first pornographic games.
02:28It had a certain lurid appeal that some people went for and some people didn't.
02:32The game was a total failure.
02:34And I don't know if it was the game or whether it was the controllers, but the whole thing didn't
02:39work.
02:43More games follow, like Death Race in 1976, released by Exedy.
02:48The game draws such public outcry for its violence.
02:54PTA mother Ronnie Lamb proposes regulation on arcades.
02:58Kind of the center of this was Ronnie Lamb from Babylon, New York.
03:03She appeared on the Donahue show, and she was just everywhere attacking video games.
03:10And she was very vocal.
03:12She did lead a lot of people.
03:13Like in Texas, there were big court cases where arcades were limited in the hours they could open and where
03:21they could be located.
03:22The case goes all the way to the Supreme Court, where justices decline to rule on its constitutionality.
03:31And the game industry marches on.
03:33The growth of the industry, I think, is really one of the great stories of the 90s.
03:39Ten years ago, this industry was mostly about adolescent boys.
03:42And what's happened is the Nintendo generation grew up.
03:51The video game industry has certainly evolved significantly over the last couple of decades.
03:58Graphic capabilities have advanced.
04:01Gameplay has advanced.
04:04Lots more different types of content elements have been introduced.
04:18In the 1992 arcade game Mortal Kombat, those elements included violently infamous finishing moves.
04:30That was one of the first really controversially violent games because it had the fatalities where you would finish him
04:37and then the head would fly off.
04:38It was like the brains would fly over and the spine would go someplace.
04:43So people were really crazy about that game at the time.
04:45It was a fun game.
04:46It was interesting.
04:48I think the rating system was an evolution at that point.
04:51So it's interesting when you look at some of the content that's in mainstream media.
04:56And you compare it to the content that's in games.
04:59In many cases, what you can see on the primetime news is as violent or even more violent in many
05:03cases than what you'll get in media such as video games or movies.
05:08And it gets Washington's attention.
05:11I think there was a growing concern about violence in some of the games.
05:16Mortal Kombat.
05:20And Doom getting attention at that point in time.
05:25So it was a growing concern about violence in video games.
05:31How would the industry react?
05:43Five teenage girls have disappeared.
05:45Your mission?
05:46Protect those girls.
05:47You guys can't be moving over there.
05:49You don't have the brains or the guts for this assignment.
05:52Give the controls to someone who does.
05:53All right.
05:55As the game industry matures, so does its target audience.
05:59Titles such as...
05:59Nitro!
06:02And Mortal Kombat are designed to appeal to a different audience.
06:06But not all companies take this route.
06:08When Mortal Kombat is released on home consoles, Nintendo only allows a less violent, bloodless version of the 2D fighter
06:14to be ported to the Super Nintendo.
06:19Violent video games.
06:20Back then, it was the very first Mortal Kombat game.
06:23And a game that didn't really have a lot of commercial success, but got a lot of attention.
06:27A game called Night Trap.
06:29Your parents are gone.
06:30So?
06:31Come on, Sarah.
06:32What's the first thing you think of?
06:34Party!
06:35Party!
06:36I think the best one would be a Night Trap for the Sega CD.
06:39Which has the distinction of being a bad, direct-to-video, B-horror movie as a game.
06:48Start Dana Plato.
06:49We're going in.
06:50It had decent production value.
06:51A lot of weird-looking dudes around here.
06:53It's akin to watching, like, one of the sleep-away camp movies.
06:56You know, it's not Friday the 13th.
06:57It's not Nightmare on Elm Street.
06:58But they're really trying hard.
07:01You know, to give you something compelling.
07:03While gamers and critics alike pan titles such as Night Trap, the violent and racy games ignite a firestorm in
07:09Washington, spearheaded by Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman.
07:13And the game industry responds.
07:16The IDSA formed back in late 93, early 1994.
07:20The Interactive Digital Software Association is a trade association.
07:23We are the voice of the video and computer game industry on public policy issues in Washington at the state
07:29level.
07:32The pivotal event that triggered the formation of the organization was the very first wave of criticism from Senator Joe
07:41Lieberman and Senator Herb Pohl of violent video games.
07:44I believe that the industry knew it had a problem that needed to be addressed.
07:49There was concern about these games.
07:53Why do you need to go across that line and produce this stuff for adults or kids?
07:58Members of Congress talking about video games being the sort of the decline and fall of Western civilization and destroying
08:05our youth, leading them down the path of the no good.
08:10And the industry felt that we needed to respond in some way, in a proactive way.
08:14Senator Lieberman was talking about introducing, and in fact did introduce legislation, to create a federal rating system for video
08:21games.
08:21And we felt that it was much more productive for the industry to self-regulate.
08:26There were congressional hearings in the early 90s that took a serious look at the video game industry and wanted
08:32to make sure that the video game industry was acting responsibly.
08:37While on his war path against violence in gaming, Senator Lieberman focuses on Mortal Kombat and Night Trap as offending
08:43examples.
08:44Adding to the controversy, the game industry faces its own internal strife over the conflict.
08:48As an uncensored version of Mortal Kombat is released on the Genesis console, rumors surface about Nintendo spurring the debate
08:55on violent games to hinder Sega's success.
08:58Tensions peak in 1993 when Washington gives the game industry an ultimatum.
09:02They must get their act together and agree on a rating system within one year, or else.
09:09I hope you walk away with one thought today, that if you don't do something about it, we will.
09:15In 1994, the Recreational Software Advisory Council, RSAC, is formed and develops a content-based rating system.
09:23The RSAC one was actually really good because it was an objective set of questions that you went through.
09:27Anybody, you could take a game like Doom and go through the questions, you get the same rating.
09:32Doom was one of the first products to come out and subject itself to the RSAC.
09:36That's good information to pass around.
09:38But it didn't make it because it wasn't quite movie-ish. It wasn't quite like the movies.
09:44Meanwhile, the IDSA gets to work on its own rating system.
09:47We felt it was much more productive for the industry to self-regulate rather than face federal ratings.
09:54Which not only do, I think, would have been unconstitutional, but they certainly would have been, I think, quite problematic.
09:59So the industry came together and united and said, how do we act responsibly to respond to this concern?
10:05The industry recognized it had a responsibility to parents and to our consumers as we got bigger.
10:10And we had a responsibility to tell people what was in our product and to help them make informed decisions.
10:15And out of the IDSA, the ESRB, a self-regulating rating system, is born.
10:22The sense was to create this trade association that would be able to represent the industry on policy issues.
10:28And the first act was to create a rating system now known as the Entertainment Software Rating Board.
10:37The rating system is based on the motion picture industry's rating system, but is more detailed.
10:42What the ESRB is responsible for is, much like the movie industry, where the movie's rated R or PG-13
10:49or G for everyone, or NC-17.
10:51They perform the same function for video games.
10:54Actually, the Federal Trade Commission has kind of lauded our industry's rating system as the most thorough and the most
11:00comprehensive.
11:01The ESRB has certainly given the industry a really good set of guidelines to follow, and everyone follows them.
11:07There's no game release without the ESRB rating.
11:09It helps clearly define what the target audience is for the game.
11:13Shortly after its introduction in 1994, game developers and publishers quickly adopt the ESRB rating system.
11:20The industry takes the ESRB very, very seriously.
11:23It's a responsibility not only of developers and publishers,
11:26but it's a responsibility of everyone to make sure you know what audience the game is intended for.
11:32It's up to developers, it's up to publishers, it's up to parents.
11:35But how does the ESRB work?
11:37A publisher has a product that isn't completely finished yet, but close enough,
11:43so they can assemble submission materials that include a videotape of all of the most extreme content in the game,
11:52as well as the context, the storyline, the characters, the setup, any introductory sequences,
11:59anything that would give us an indication as to the content elements in the game and the age-appropriateness.
12:05We have a very thorough written submission form that every publisher has to fill out
12:11and write what is actually in the game, what's depicted, what's said, any dialogue,
12:17any depiction whatsoever that could be relevant in terms of a content rating.
12:22And a ratings award, three people will then view this tape,
12:27read the documentation that goes along with it, but they don't play the game necessarily.
12:30Within a week, have independent raiders come in, look at the video,
12:36and based on the consensus...
12:38We'll decide on what the rating of this game should be.
12:42We apply a rating along with content descriptors,
12:45and the publisher gets their rating certificate.
12:47It usually takes about five to seven business days.
12:49The key to a good rating system is a diverse collection of people rating the games.
12:53Our rating system was fundamentally premised on having ordinary Americans
12:59come in and rate games.
13:01Don't have to be a gamer.
13:03Male-female, cultural backgrounds have to be diverse, marital status.
13:08It would be helpful, and in fact, we look for raiders who have had some kind of exposure to kids.
13:14But the bottom line is we want ordinary Americans to be looking at this content
13:19using their own judgment, their own cultural backgrounds, their own tastes,
13:23what is appropriate for which ages, and which content needs to be called out to a consumer on a box
13:30or in an app.
13:31So it's American public opinion. It's not the industry's opinion.
13:35But has the ESRB gone far enough?
13:38I think it does a good job. I think it could do a better job on certain things.
13:43It's time for a PG-13 type of rating in the gaming world.
13:58With a self-regulated rating system in place, some developers feel free to push the boundaries.
14:03In 1996, Harvester is released by Merit Studios.
14:07The company claims it is the most violent video game ever released.
14:11But not all game publishers are interested in pushing the envelope.
14:14Electronic Arts decides not to release an ultra-violent fighting game called Thrill Kill.
14:20But the ESRB isn't enough for some.
14:23In June of 1999, Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman passed the Media Violence Labeling Act.
14:29We had two different violence descriptors, mild violence and violence.
14:32We felt that consumers could use a little bit more nuance,
14:38a little bit more information in terms of what kind of violence.
14:41The new act calls for more detailed descriptions in the ratings.
14:44Unlike the MPAA system for films.
14:47The video game ratings are quite different in some key respects from the movie ratings.
14:52First of all, video games are a different medium.
14:54A video game is interactive, a film is passive.
14:57Video games, as realistic as they're getting, are still predominantly animation.
15:02Realistic looking, yet quite different visually than a film.
15:05So the whole experience is different, and we felt from the very beginning
15:09that we couldn't simply graft on the motion picture rating system.
15:13But even with the new additions, there's still room for improvement in the ESRB system.
15:17Now what I think would be a perfect thing for the ESRB to do,
15:20and one thing that I've sort of advocated in my column,
15:22is that it's time for a PG-13 type of rating in the gaming world.
15:27You know, we've got E, E equals G, T equals PG, and M equals R.
15:32That's fine, that helps to a point.
15:34But if you have something that's sort of a middle ground between T and M,
15:37then you can have these games that sort of walk the line between the two
15:41and still have the M rating carry a little bit more weight.
15:45And the ESRB continues to evolve.
15:48In 2003, the ESRB conducted an extensive review of the rating system.
15:53We talked to child development experts.
15:56We talked to consumer advocacy groups.
15:59We talked to members of the academic community.
16:01We talked to consumers.
16:03We talked to as many people as we could to understand how successful the rating system is
16:09and where are the areas that we could make improvements.
16:13We introduced a number of significant changes to the rating system.
16:18By 2003, a new set of improvements to the rating system is announced.
16:22Boxes get bolder labels reflecting their ratings,
16:24descriptions of game content become more precise,
16:27and distinctions between different types of violence are used.
16:32First was we wanted to make sure that the mature rating symbol was clear
16:36in terms of its age appropriateness.
16:38So we added 17 plus to the actual rating symbol.
16:41So if a consumer picks up a box,
16:43they don't have to guess what the age range is for a mature rating.
16:46Second change we made was we wanted to make sure
16:48that consumers didn't miss the content descriptors on the back of every package.
16:52Short phrases that describe the content in the game.
16:56Critical, critical piece of the rating system.
16:59And the game developers themselves are kept informed of ratings guidelines.
17:03All those guidelines are really, really good for our industry,
17:05you know, because they make it clear what really is an e-game.
17:11What is a t-game?
17:18And what is an m-game?
17:26I applaud the ESRB for enforcing these uniformly.
17:30In 2003, the IDSA undergoes a transformation of its own,
17:34changing its name to the ESA.
17:36ESA stands for Entertainment Software Association,
17:38and it's made up of the top publishers that are based here in the U.S.
17:45The thing that they're probably most known for is owning and running the E3 trade show.
17:51They're an important group.
17:53They're responsible for the ESRB.
17:55They also have a lot to do with talking to politicians in Washington
17:59who, you know, may or may not understand video games.
18:04It's a voluntary system.
18:06It's up to a publisher if they want to submit a product to us to be rated.
18:11It's self-regulating.
18:12I think it's very, very important.
18:14The reality is that it's been a universally adopted system,
18:17and that the publishers have all really responded.
18:22in wanting to provide this objective, independent information
18:25on the front and back of every game box,
18:27and also in all of their advertising.
18:31With the ESRB rating system in place,
18:34Senator Lieberman, one of gaming's most vocal critics,
18:37has applauded the industry's proactiveness.
18:39This video game rating system is the most comprehensive
18:42and informative rating system of any entertainment medium anywhere.
18:50The rating system has been praised by folks like Joe Lieberman
18:54and others as the best rating system
18:56among all entertainment industries.
18:58So it was critical that people didn't miss him.
19:03We began sort of in a crisis.
19:06In a reactive way as a trade association,
19:09responding to this sort of congressional criticism.
19:12And in a very perverse way, it did us a favor.
19:17Because it allowed the industry to come together
19:20as it never had before, very competitive companies
19:23uniting together around common causes.
19:29I'm very focused right now
19:30on making sure that consumers are aware
19:31of the rating system and using it.
19:33And I've even seen some ads, you know, trailers before movies.
19:37Now I love sports.
19:38I love sports.
19:40But you've got to play the game that's right for you.
19:42See them with computer and video games.
19:43ESRB is very, very important for our industry
19:46because parents have to make sure
19:47each game is right for their kids.
19:50Parents need to know what they're buying for their children.
19:53How?
19:53Check the rating.
19:54Check the rating.
19:55The industry still has a ways to go
19:57to catch up to the movie ratings.
19:59We've been around for 10 years.
20:00Movie ratings have been around for 35, 40 years.
20:03Every game box has a rating symbol
20:05that suggests what age the game is best for.
20:07It's critical that consumers are aware of the rating system.
20:11And a content label that tells you what's in the game.
20:16And use it appropriately.
20:18When you check the rating, you know what to expect.
20:22The system works and gets the job done.
20:25But there's always room for improvement.
20:28I mean, I'm critical of them,
20:29and I think that there are certain things
20:31that they can do better.
20:32Given the short amount of time
20:34that they've been in existence,
20:35I think they've done a very good job
20:37getting what the ratings mean out.
20:39I think it's made developers a lot more aware
20:42of what they put in games right now.
20:44They can still push the envelope,
20:45but at the same time,
20:46they know that someone's keeping an eye on them.
20:48They know that if they go too far,
20:50there is a regulating body that's going to say,
20:53hold it.
20:54That's a little bit too much.
20:56See?
20:57You've got to play the game.
20:58That's right for you.
21:02Phone, 1.2 megapixel camera,
21:04and holds 5,000 MP3s.
21:07Wow.
21:07That's really impressive.
21:09Hold on a second.
21:10Sorry.
21:12Hello?
21:13Yeah, I'm in the middle of lunch.
21:15Can I call you back?
21:16All right, cool.
21:16Thanks.
21:18So that's a lot of MP3s.
21:19Yeah.
21:20See the best, greatest, biggest, shiniest,
21:22coolest, and blinkiest new stuff
21:23coming next year
21:24when the Screensavers goes live
21:26at the Consumer Electronics Show.
21:27Coming up next.
21:29Hold on.
21:30Let me put you on speakerphone.
21:31Hold on.
21:31Hold on.
Comments